


Don't Be Suspicious

by BullRun



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Comedy, lynel mask, this is technically canon to my other fic but it doesnt really need context lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:15:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27071836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BullRun/pseuds/BullRun
Summary: Zelda looked at the mess in her hands to Link’s hopeful face. She grimaced. “Try again. Try to be more convincing.”
Relationships: Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29
Collections: Max's Haunted Palace 2020





	Don't Be Suspicious

**Author's Note:**

> prompt fill for day 17 “I will dress up as literally anything else, but don’t make me wear this..”  
> this is technically canon to ruderal botany. because i am obsessed

“I will dress up as literally anything else, but don’t make me wear this.” Zelda looked at the mess in her hands to Link’s hopeful face. She grimaced. “Try again. Try to be more convincing.”

Link pointed vaguely to the left. “There is a lynel over there. If it sees us, it will kill us. And Maggie is not fast enough to outrun a lynel, and  _ you _ are not stealthy enough to sneak past it.”

Zelda struggled to not be offended. “...fair enough.”

“This mask will hide us from the lynel so we can safely ride past.”

She looked at the mask in her hands. It was enormous, almost as big as a real lynel head. It was also as smelly as a real lynel. Clearly, it had been pieced together by an ameteur of limited skill and dangerous enthusiasm. Zelda tried to touch as little of it as possible. Why was it sticky? How was it sticky?

“So, is there two masks or…?”

* * *

There was not two masks. There was the one extremely gross mask that could fit over both of them. On horseback, their combined silhouette should fool the lynel. Zelda had begged to ride in front, if only for the ventilation the eye holes would provide. Magatha, Link’s well trained but slow horse, was chosen for the job. Zelda’s horse would be following them at a distance. She was fast, but flighty.

As they crested the hill that hid the lynel, Zelda started to have some concerns about this whole plan. The monster was  _ enormous _ . She knew that, intellectually, but it was entirely different to see it in person. 

The lynel was a sickly gray, with white stripes on its hide and a white mane. It wasn’t looking anywhere near them as it patrolled the other half of the tiny valley. Her eyes flicked towards their destination, a small copse of trees that would hide them from view. It was only a couple hundred feet. 

Magatha was calm under her legs. Link was breathing slowly against the back of her head in the suffocating mask. Zelda urged the horse forward. Slowly, they made their way closer.

They were only a third of the way across before the lynel caught sight of them. It snorted and wheeled to face them. Almost instantly, its bow was in its hands. It didn’t knock an arrow. 

Zelda kept her cool. If she panicked, then the horse would panic. They could not outrun it, especially with two people on one horse. She squeezed a little with her knees to urge the horse to move a smidge faster. 

Magatha sped up to a brisk walk. The lynel put away its bow. Instead, it pulled out a cruel looking club the size of a hylian. It steadied the weapon with its free hand and charged towards them.

The lynel skidded to a stop just a few feet away. It’s attention was firmly centered on Zelda. Its lionlike face was blank and its hide twitched occasionally like a horse twitching away flies. 

Zelda sucked in a breath. She could feel herself start to sweat. Whatever magic the mask held, it kept the monster from attacking, but it didn’t hide them from it. 

They were so dangerously close. Lynels had been known to wipe out whole squads of trained warriors. They were infamous for their strength and speed. The most cunning type of monster in Hyrule. This was closest anyone had ever gotten to a living lynel. 

It towered over them. Zelda looked from the monster’s blank eyes to its enormous hands, still holding the club. Without thinking about it, Zelda pulled back on the reins to stop the horse. Magatha stopped immediately, with the lynel still standing just to the side of her. The horse shivered, but didn’t back away. 

Zelda reached out a hand to touch the lynel. The closest part of it was the hand holding the handle of the club. She brushed her hand over the fur on the back of its hand. It was bristly and almost like a boar. The monster’s hide twitched like a horse. Undaunted, Zelda stroked a little higher. The was a patch of white fur on its forearm that was even coarser in texture. A tiny patch of mane, perhaps. 

She was so close. She could feel its hot, rancid breath lance through the eyeholes. Without peripheral vision, the only thing she could see was the beast.

“Why did we stop?” whispered Link against her hair. 

“Don’t worry about it,” she whispered back. 

The lynel’s eyes dilated. It’s piercing gaze flicked around. She held her breath.

The lynel quieted slightly. Zelda turned her attention back to its hide. It was so coarse and tough. Experimentally, she tugged on it. She pulled out a pinch of long white hair on its forearms.

The lynel roared and reared.

* * *

Hours later, Link and Zelda were out of arrows and energy. Their horses were grazing nearby. The slate’s inventory was full of new potion materials and considerably less weapons. 

“I think that went rather well!” announced Zelda as she wiped a bit of blood off her face with her torn sleeve.

Link’s laugh had a slightly hysterical edge. 


End file.
